Kevin Purdy

Fewer than two percent of lost or wayward cats ever make it from a shelter back to their owners, while 15-19 percent of dogs do. The difference? Cat owners' fear of collar problems, which a new study finds mostly unwarranted.

While most dog owners are eager to leash, collar, and register their pets, whether by law or conscience, some cat owners are afraid of collars getting stuck, or can't imagine their cat tolerating the collar long—or just believe their house cat will never get lost. In a study out from the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, researchers found that not only will most cats accept a collar (eventually), none were caught in serious binds:

Dr. Lord and her colleagues studied 538 collared cats for six months. At the end of the six months, 75 percent of the cats were still wearing their collars. Only a few had injured themselves, but none severely.

As a backup for collars coming loose, or for cats that can't keep them on, veterinarians recommend having a microchip implanted in your cat, so that shelters, clinics, and vets can identify their owners.